Conveyor devices of this type are used in the automotive industry to convey vehicle bodies between, and in particular also in, individual processing or treatment stations.
The vehicle bodies here are conventionally secured in each case to a so-called skid, which generally comprises two support runners with which the skid is supported for example on a roller conveyor. Present-day vehicle bodies are already produced with holding components which are standardised and matched to the skid technology. These holding components of the vehicle bodies are mostly holding plates on their floor. These holding plates cooperate with correspondingly adapted locking elements on the skid, which are likewise known per se and by way of which a vehicle body is secured to a skid.
To drive the skid, this is coupled to the continuous drive train which can be constructed, for example, as a conveyor chain and whereof the load-carrying strand extends accordingly parallel next to the roller conveyor. In one variant, the skid can also lie with its support runners on a respective continuous drive train, i.e. for example on a respective conveyor chain.
In the individual treatment stations, a skid of this type is in most cases subjected to the same treatment as the vehicle body secured to it. If a vehicle body on a skid is guided for example through a drier, the associated skid is also heated each time with each vehicle body in order to then be cooled again with the vehicle body. As a result, a considerable proportion of the energy for each drying procedure is used in heating and cooling the skid.
In treatment zones in which the skid is not subjected to any direct treatment, it still has to be carried along with the vehicle body. The total mass of the vehicle body and skid to be conveyed is therefore considerably higher than the mass of a vehicle body alone. For example, a vehicle body with a weight of approximately 400 kg is conveyed on a skid which weighs approximately 150 kg. Since greater masses have to be moved, more energy also has to be used for transporting a vehicle body and skid than for a vehicle body alone.
All in all, in the case of commercially known conveyor devices of the type mentioned at the outset which cooperate with skids, the total energy balance in terms of the vehicle bodies to be treated is adversely affected and the total operating costs of the system are therefore increased.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a device of the type mentioned at the outset, which takes these considerations into account.